I'm still in the research phase and this one doctor/hospital has a $200 dollar out of pocket program fee. Did/does any one had to do this?

Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston has a $500 program fee that is NOT covered by insurance. I had to pay it, and it suuuuuucks. I can see why they do it, but I wish they would give it back to you if you keep all your appointments for a year or so.

wow thats alot..i guess they want to make sure you are totally committed to this life change

Mine was $100.

I had a $200 program fee as well. Looks like its common to have some kind of additional fee.

Mine was $350.

:blink:Wow?!?!?!? No, my doctor did not have a program fee. Didn't know they did that, what is the purpose??

$375.00 It was to collect all of the pre-op results, submit to insurance. nutritionist, and a lifetime of aftercare guideance (a big joke considering the surgeonrecently pulled up stakes and moved to Florida)

I had to pay $160 but that was for all the nutrition, exercise and life skills classes that I had to attend!

Mine was 600, and as someone mentioned it is for the aftercare. Able to speak to the nutritionist and what not... I am going to be calling them all the time asking them to give me therapy on all aspects of my life!

Gosh, I'm so glad my surgeon's office doesn't have anything like that. The nutritionist portion was included as well as all my fills for the first 13 months (I've had 6 so far). My last fill was under fluoro and I didn't even have to pay for that.

Mine was $300. It paid for my nutritionist visit, physical eval, and nutrition classes that was all required by insurance. But now, they have post-op meetings (like a weight watchers meeting) each month that I get to attend free of charge and I can continue to see the nutritionist. Plus they gave me a binder outlining everything there is to know about the band and foods with the band. So I would say it was worth it.

I'm actually pretty excited about the post-op meetings. I lost the most weight on weight watchers. I suspect it was the group support aspect (and the points system) that did it for me.

Mine is &150